The Movie
In case you never graduated from my (un)Official (un)Accredited (un)Long-Distance Learnin' Place, let me explain Rizzo's Law of the Funny #216: Wackiness should be delivered in small doses, in order for it to be effective. Thus, "Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law" stands in direct violation with RTOTF #216, as it is made up of unadulterated wacky moment, after wacky moment. The show doesn't go more than 20 second before unveiling a new bit of the bizarre. But then again, the episodes are only 12 minutes long, so that could be considered small doses. Therefore, the verdict stands: "Harvey Birdman" is funny.

Taking footage from the old action-adventure cartoon "Birdman," the creators made the hero into a zero; an ineffectual lawyer with an eye-patched mental-patient boss, a bizarre junior-league version of himself as an assistant; and his longtime compatriot, Avenger the falcon. Like "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast," this show also recycles Birdman's foes, but instead of redeeming them, they are just enemies in a different arena, as they face-off in the court of law. But unlike "Space Ghost," the geniuses behind "Harvey Birdman" didn't limit themselves to just one show, utilizing characters from across the Hanna-Barbera universe, to great effect. You'll never look at Blue Falcon the same way again.

At just 12 minutes, the episodes are packed with jokes and fly by. There's a definite adult/absurd feel to the show, as running jokes take on a life of their own, from the insanity of Judge Mentok to the repeated appearances of the cutest bear you've ever done seen to the random clowns. The added layer of humor in how the old cartoons are used is a nice touch, but not knowing who Reducto is won't affect your enjoyment of the series. The comedy is so primal that anyone can watch an episode and simply lose it.

While the writing is tremendously funny, the voice cast is a big reason why it's so hilarious. As Harvey, Gary Cole (Office Space) mixes button-downed seriousness with comedy, the same way he re-created the character of Mike Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie. His "reality"-based performance is the perfect style to play opposite Stephen Colbert ("The Daily Show") and his take on Birdman's boss, Phil Ken Sebben. Sebben is the personification of madness, a fact that becomes obvious quickly, the first time he expresses his love of cookie bouquets. While the stars are great, the guests might be even better, including animation vets Phil Lamarr and Maurice LaMarche and comedy superstar Michael McKean.

Volume One has arguably the best episodes of the entire run, including the incredibly funny "Very Personal Injury," which features the Superfriends' Apache Chief suffering a most-unheroic pain in the groinal region. This episode displays the show's biggest strength, that being its ability to turn third-string characters into interesting stories. "X, The Eliminator" does much of the same, but takes a fearsome villain and turns him into one of the show's core audience: the fanboy living in his mom's basement. It features some of the funniest moments as the desperate and pathetic villain drags around his immense, and ultimately useless weapon, in an attempt to finally defeat the titular hero.

This set provides the interesting opportunity to see a series switch its entire production technique, as the final four episodes are produced in Flash animation, instead of the standard cel animation. It would be a lie to say that the new look isn't more vibrant and dynamic, but the integration with the old animation is nowhere near as smooth. In fact, it feels like most of the final four shows feature almost entirely new animation, which somewhat takes from the series' charm. But it's still funny as hell, so who really cares? Not me, and not Rizzo's Law of the Funny. So step down, sucka.

The DVDs
As usual, [adult swim] has created unique and entirely show-appropriate packaging, this time, producing an embossed slip case that feels and looks like an old law book, right down to the details on the top of the pages. Inside, it's more of the same, as the book opens to reveal two trays for the two DVDs, an episode guide done in the style of legal precedents, and a bunch more material in the form of evidence, legal pads and briefing folders. The anamorphic widescreen menus on the DVD open with a shot of Birdman's office door, and a bizarre bluesy song about the man himself. Inside, the episode selection menus aren't exactly clear, but they follow the legal theme of the set and are fun to spend some time with. Language options include English, French and Spanish subtitles, and the discs are closed captioned.

The Quality
The quality of the episodes is directly proportional to the age and obscurity of the source material used to create them. The old "Johnny Quest" footage is obviously grainier and more washed out than the Superfriends clips. Because the crew did such an excellent job of matching the levels of quality between the new and old animation, it doesn't affect the show in any way. One episode, the aforementioned "Very Personal Injury," suffers from what seems to be ghosting, but the commentary explains why this happened (hint: o-v-e-r-s-e-a-s.) The series looks as good or better than it did on TV, though in the early episodes, the pixilation that affects the DVD presentation of black outlines of cel animation is evident.

Aurally, the 2.0 soundtrack is just what one would expect from a sitcom-like cartoon, without much in the way of any kind of activity. Dialogue is crystal clear and the sound effects and music are without distortion. It's not a reference quality track, but it really didn't have to be in order to work correctly.

The Extras
Again, [adult swim] cares a lot about its fans, at least, as much as a multinational corporation can. The DVD sets of the network's shows exhibit that care, as the bonus material is always creative and plentiful. "Harvey Birdman" is no exception. On the first disc, deleted scenes are included for "Deadomutt," along with creator commentaries for "Very Personal Injury" and "The Dabba Don." The commentaries include plenty of information about the making of the show, but are far from dry, as those involved have a good rapport, and a very good sense of humor.

Disc Two contains the bulk of the extras. Like the first DVD, there are deleted scenes for "Trio's Company" and commentaries for "SPF," "The Devlin Made Me Do It," and "Trio's Company." "Devlin" includes two commentary tracks, one by the creators and one by the network Standards and Practices and Legal departments, which is a great joke, considering the concept of the episode. In addition to the episode materials, there are several other bonus features. A live-action version of the jazzy opening was created, which is just cool, along with a live-action movie trailer, which, while not as cool at the opening, is pretty ginchy.

Pencil tests for "Shaggy Busted" give a view behind the scenes of the show's production, much like "The Wind Beneath His Wings," which is a quick-edit gallery of photos of the crew, which the DVD claims is of no interest to anyone other than the show's creators, while "Tab Can Redux" is the infamous live-action fantasy scene, this time with ridiculous love-song lyrics. One of the more interesting extras is the "What If" casting sessions, which show comedian Todd Barry and Colbert doing scenes as Harvey Birdman. The show would definitely have been different with them as the lead.

The Bottom Line
[adult swim] has made an art out of recycling old cartoons, and Harvey Birdman might be the pinnacle of their efforts. Taking characters from Hanna-Barbera's action and comedy cartoons and putting them into a law-based animated sitcom creates comic gold every time. As expected from the consistently excellent [adult swim] line, the DVD set for the first volume of the series exhibits the same twisted sense of humor as the show, with a nice assortment of extras and excellent packaging. Anyone who's a fan will need these DVDs, and anyone curious about the show, but unwilling to lose sleep should check them out.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.